Taehyung honestly did not want any insight into Jungkook’s private life, but paper-thin walls never went well with either privacy or peace and quiet. He worked as a freelance graphic designer, so he was home a lot every day. Therefore, he heard a lot. Every day.

Taehyung didn’t need to know the neighbor from the next building, with whom he shared the biggest wall of their respective rooms, had a dog and an overly active one at that. But it was inevitable with the barking, wailing and the sounds of objects falling and crashing before Jungkook could be heard yelling “Miri!” with a tone that lacked what it needed for the dog to understand it had done something wrong.

Now, Taehyung was a reasonable person and had nothing against dogs or animals in general, so he didn’t really mind the noise caused by Miri. It was Miri’s human and the humans who occasionally came to his apartment that got on Taehyung’s nerves.

Taehyung didn’t want to know what was going on in the video games Jungkook played, but he yelled and cursed loudly enough for Taehyung to practically envision everything. He didn’t want to know what pseudo-existential dilemmas Jungkook and the people he’d sometimes get high with had but, although the walls weren’t thin enough to normally make out what people were saying during a normal conversation, it was a different story when it was the dead of the night and silence was all around except for people who partied like Jungkook and people who worked fueled by caffeine to meet tight deadlines like Taehyung.

To be completely honest, Taehyung didn’t even want to know Jungkook’s name. But he had heard it screamed out by the series of lovers that came to and on various places of the apartment on the other side of the wall, among which Taehyung was sure he had heard one or two dudes, and Taehyung figured “Jungkook!” wasn’t the new “So good!” or anything like that. Besides the voices, Taehyung also often heard what he assumed to be the wooden top of Jungkook’s bed tapping against the wall as the unsteady bed moved with two or more people on it and sometimes it would get so annoying that Taehyung wanted to just bang loudly one time against the wall, just to startle them and kill their mood.

But he never did because Taehyung wasn’t the type to meddle in someone else’s private life, even if just to say “Keep it down, damn it!”, and he didn’t think Jungkook was shamelessly making unbearable amounts of noise. Compared to the college student who had lived in that apartment until half a year ago, Jungkook’s place was now practically a library.

Also, besides the noises made by Miri, there was another category of sounds regularly coming from Jungkook’s apartment that didn’t bother Taehyung in the slightest. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Jungkook often sang to himself with a breathy, sweet and full of emotion voice and Taehyung actually enjoyed hearing it, whenever it came through clearly.

All in all, after living that close to Jungkook for a few months, Taehyung felt like he came to know a lot about Jungkook and it was all knowledge he never asked for or sought out in any way. What Taehyung didn’t know however, albeit still not being curious to find out, was how Jungkook and Miri looked.

Taehyung worked from home as a freelancer, shopped online a lot, paid the bills online and almost never had the time or the required mood for going out and socializing. So he barely ever left his place and spent most of his time in front of a screen in the only room of his apartment, aside from the bathroom and kitchen, and on the balcony of his room where he smoked. The only trips Taehyung regularly took outside was a twice per week trip to the supermarket for groceries and cigarettes.

So Taehyung never had the opportunity to come across Jungkook walking his dog or anything like that and see what they looked like, but that didn’t weigh Taehyung’s heart down even by a milligram.

However, one day, as Taehyung was sitting and smoking on his balcony, he saw something falling down close to that side of the building, seeming like it had been dropped from one of the neighbors upstairs. He went near the balcony railing and bent over it to see what had fallen. It took him only a few seconds to realize it was food remains probably thrown in the back yard in order to feed the stray cats that roamed around. As he thought about that, Taehyung heard a voice from his left saying:

J: “Son of a…”

Taehyung turned towards the voice and saw a guy bending over the railing of the balcony belonging to Jungkook’s apartment and frowning as he saw the discarded food remains. If that was Jungkook, Taehyung suddenly had insight as to why so many people came home with him. He looked like the lovechild between Superman and the Easter Bunny, an odd but perfectly balanced combination between manly and adorable, vigorous and fragile.

His profile was enough. Taehyung didn’t want the pleasure of seeing his face from the front, so he was about to duck back into his half-closed balcony when Jungkook suddenly turned towards him and smiled after noticing him as he said:

J: “Oh, hey! Do you happen to know who threw this?”

T: “No.”

J: “It’s not the first time it happens and it’s not cool. People walk their dogs a lot around this area. I do to. And like this they may end up eating something that will make them sick.”

T: “You should teach your dog to not eat anything it finds on the ground.”

J: “I did. I mean I tried to, but it didn’t work. She still does it.”

T: “Mhm… You must have at teaching then.” Taehyung bluntly said right before he went back into his apartment and out of Jungkook’s sight.

Jungkook remained staring at the space Taehyung’s head used to occupy a few seconds ago, wondering why he suddenly got such ty attitude from a stranger, who was his neighbor, but still a stranger nonetheless. Then he stopped caring about it and went back inside his own room.

Aside from Taehyung occasionally hearing what happened in Jungkook’s apartment, they continued living their lives completely unaware of each other. Until one evening, that is, when Taehyung took off his headphones and realized there was havoc going on in Jungkook’s apartment. Miri was also barking and wailing almost nonstop and Taehyung found it odd hearing this combination of sounds at that hour when Jungkook would usually have taken Miri outside.

Taehyung was about to put his headphones back on and ignore the noise like he often tried doing, but something made him feel unsettled, so he didn’t. He continued working, but he also continued listening. Over the following two hours, the indicators of havoc came more sparsely, startling Taehyung enough to jump through his computer screen at one point, the barking decreased and the wailing started coming continuously. After a while, wailing was all that could be heard and Taehyung couldn’t take it anymore.

Whatever was going on, the dog was suffering more than an ancient Greek tragedy character, so Taehyung went to the wall separating his room from Jungkook’s and called out to the owner of that room. His only response, however, was in the form of barking.

Taehyung tried again and got the same result. He tried calling from the balcony, but nothing happened. Taehyung went out of his apartment, down the stairs, into the next building, in front of Jungkook’s door and knocked on it. The barking came even louder and more frequent and Taehyung could tell Miri was excited that someone was at the door, so he concluded that Jungkook wasn’t at home and the dog wasn’t handling the loneliness very well.

He sighed and went back to his apartment where he sighed again before getting on his balcony and figuring out how he could cross over to the balcony on the left. It wasn’t that hard, but it was dangerous and Taehyung found himself questioning what being somewhat of a hermit did to his sanity only when his feet were on two different sets of balcony railings.

Luckily, he landed on Jungkook’s balcony without a scratch and, after catching his breath, he tried sticking his hand though the slightly opened window that wouldn’t allow for further opening to move the handle on the balcony door. He succeeded and let himself into Jungkook’s apartment. What he saw there made him go:

T: “…”

Havoc was the right word for it. There were clothes, bed sheets and covers dragged from their places and ripped to various degrees. The curtain was in shreds. Cables had been chewed on and thrown around the room. There was urine smell in the air and there were many things knocked over, including a chair that was close to some relatively fresh dog poo. And this was only what Taehyung could make out in the dim light of some gadget that was probably a pest repellant plugged into the wall high enough for the dog to not reach it.

In the middle of the havoc there was a white poodle of the miniature kind, standing still and silent as she assessed the stranger that had entered her home. Taehyung crouched down and called Miri over to him. He wasn’t worried over getting bitten. He was worried over how much more complicated things would get if Miri was the type to bite him. Luckily, it seemed to Taehyung that Miri peed a little before coming over to him, so he thought she must be very relieved to see any human at all. He let Miri smell his hands and get familiar with him, then played with her a bit, talking gently throughout their interactions.

After Miri was clearly comfortable around him, Taehyung went over to switch on the light and almost screamed at seeing how much more of a mess the room actually was. But what was most disturbing about the room was the scattered, bloody paw-prints that could be seen on the rug. Taehyung saw that a glass had fallen from the table and had shattered on the floor. Miri must have stepped on the shards and gotten injured. He did his best to inspect her paws and didn’t notice any shards left stuck in them, but it was still not okay to leave it like that.

Taehyung evaluated his options quickly, found a spare key, took Miri’s leash, left a note with his name and number on Jungkook’s desk and left with Miri in his hands to take her to the closest vet that would accept walk-ins after midnight. He questioned what he was doing many times along the way, but he dismissed such thoughts because the dog was the first priority at that moment. Luckily, there were no shards stuck in Miri’s paws and the vet made sure the wound wouldn’t get infected.

When Taehyung came back, he went to Jungkook’s door again, but again no one answered. So, this time, Taehyung let himself in, searched for the dog food and Miri’s bowl and took them with him as he carried Miri over to his apartment. Not that it was likely for Miri to eat anything given her worry over Jungkook being gone for so long, but Taehyung still tried convincing and tricking her into eating as he played with her to keep her distracted till sleep called for the both of them.

The next morning, as Taehyung was making his coffee, he noticed Miri suddenly getting excited, running to the door, barking at it and spinning in place as she wagged her tail. Taehyung assumed she either wanted to be taken outside or she had heard something in the building’s hallway. After his doorbell was rung and several heavy knocks came upon his door, Taehyung concluded it was the latter. He went over to the door and picked the fidgety dog up before opening it.

J: “Miri!”

The look Jungkook had on his face right when Taehyung opened the door indicated that he was going to angrily scream at Taehyung, punch him or both, but that look vanished in the instant he saw Miri and took her from Taehyung’s arms. Miri peed on Jungkook a bit due to the excitement and relief at seeing him again, but Jungkook didn’t even seem to notice as he kept petting the overly excited dog and saying:

J: “Oh, my God! You’re okay. I’m so sorry, Miri. I… Wait…” Jungkook paused as he noticed the bandage wrapped around one of Miri’s paws. “You’re not okay... What happened?” Jungkook asked Taehyung.

T: “She got agitated and knocked over many things, including a glass that fell and shattered on the floor, then she cut herself on one of the shards.”

J: “Oh no… Vet!” Jungkook declared agitated, picking Miri up and attempting to run before Taehyung quickly informed him:

T: “Already went. The wound’s clean and healing. She’s been stepping with that leg a lot more today, so the pain’s probably lessened.” Taehyung explained going inside his apartment and coming back to the door. “Here’s the business card of the vet I took her to, in case you need it.”

J: “Thanks…” Jungkook said weakly as he still processed everything. “So she’s okay?”

T: “Yeah. She’s okay.”

J: “Thank you!” Jungkook said full of emotion after letting out a heavy sight of relief and squeezing Miri to his chest.

To be honest, just as Jungkook looked like he was about to yell at Taehyung when the door opened, Taehyung also intended to give him an earful for leaving his dog alone for so long. But, given Jungkook’s reaction, Taehyung concluded that Jungkook loved his dog, worried over her and would never irresponsibly leave her alone like that without a good reason. And the bandage wrapped around Jungkook’s head was probably part of that reason.

T: “So what happened?”

J: “What do you mean?”

T: “Why were you gone for so long?”

J: “I got struck by a dumbbell and was out cold for a while.”

T: “A dumbbell?... You must be dating and cheating on some pretty crazy people…”

J: “What? I’m not dating anyone. Well… That’s what I tell all those who think otherwise, although some people still don’t get it… Anyway! I was at work. Which is a gym, since I’m a personal trainer. And I was passing by this guy who was lifting these dumbbells…” Jungkook started explaining, raising one hand high into the air to imitate the person he was talking about. “But the dumbbells were too heavy for him, his muscles gave in and his hand fell to the side like this…” he continued, letting his arm fall and demonstrate what had happened. “And the dumbbell hit the side of my head, right above the temple, and I was unconscious for quite a few hours. I woke up at the hospital around 3 a.m., but they didn’t let me go till the morning when some specialist came to look over the test results and declare I’m fine.”

T: “Mhm. Sounds rough.”

J: “I knew Miri was gonna freak out with me missing for so long and I even begged them to let me go home, but they wouldn’t budge.”

T: “You could’ve called someone to come stay with her.”

J: “I did. I must have called over a dozen people. But it was the middle of the night and not many answered. Those that did weren’t sober… Or willing to help out…”

T: “Get better friends. Or whatever those people are to you.”

The way Taehyung said that made Jungkook feel annoyed, so he changed his attitude slightly when he replied:

J: “I’ll get to that. Right after I improve the security of my apartment. Wanna tell me why you came in through my balcony door?”

T: “The front door didn’t work out.”

J: “…”

T: “And I don’t have the means to make a huge hole in the wall.”

J: “And you got turned down by the building administrator when you asked him for the spare key, right?”

T: “I didn’t even try that. The man can’t be bothered even if the sky comes pouring in through the shabby roof. Hopefully for you, you won’t have the pleasure of relying on him for anything.”

J: “Okay. Enough of this. WHY did you want to get into my apartment?”

T: “I didn’t.”

Jungkook felt himself about to switch from annoyed to flipping mad, so he took a deep breath to calm himself down while also showing that he was annoyed.

T: “I really didn’t. I get enough of your private life as it is.”

J: “What does that mean?”

T: “It means I get enough of Miri’s antics, your taste in music, your video games win and lose count, the epiphanies your friends have when you guys get high and the preferences of your lovers in .”

Jungkook looked shocked and, for some reason, that annoyed Taehyung.

T: “What? You couldn’t have been thinking that you’re the only one hearing the neighbors through the paper-thin walls while the noises you make stay within them.”

J: “I didn’t hear a thing…”

T: “Seriously?”

J: “The only occupied apartment mine is connected to is yours. And I never heard any noise from it. I thought it was also unoccupied until I saw you on the balcony a while ago.”

T: “Well it’s not. I’m here almost constantly. But I use headphones a lot. Ever heard about a convenient invention like that?”

J: “I get it – I bothered you with the noise, but you could’ve just come to my door or knocked on the wall and said something.”

T: “Last night when I tried both of those things, it didn’t work.”

J: “So you came through the balcony because you heard things falling and breaking?”

T: “I wouldn’t care about that. But I heard your dog wailing for hours and I couldn’t take it anymore. I figured it was cause of loneliness and stuff, but a lot of falling and breaking happened and there was a possibility of your dog hurting herself in the process of destroying your apartment. I was right but, thankfully, it wasn’t a serious injury.”

Taehyung looked at Miri as he finished that explanation and, when Miri looked back at him with her big and innocent eyes, Taehyung couldn’t help a corner of his lips from going upwards. Jungkook noticed that and a lot of the annoyance and skepticism he was feeling dissipated as he concluded that his neighbor, despite the attitude he was giving Jungkook, had genuinely worried over Miri.

T: “So how did you know I came in through the balcony?”

J: “I have a camera I leave recording when Miri’s at home and I’m not so that, in case something happens, I can check the footage and find out what happened.”

T: “Big Brother Jungkook…”

J: “How’d you know my name?”

T: “It was screamed late at night.”

J: “Oh…”

T: “So you came back to a home looking like a tornado had passed through it and with no Miri in it, you panicked, checked the footage, saw me and came here thinking that I kidnapped your dog.”

J: “That’s… the gist of it, yes.”

T: “I’m guessing you didn’t find my note.”

J: “What note?”

T: “I guessed right.”

J: “Did anyone ever tell you that you have an attitude problem?”

T: “No one who’s opinion I cared about.”

J: “I see… Well, sorry for the noise, thanks again for taking care of Miri, I’ll take her home now…” Jungkook said as he turned to leave.

T: “Hold on! Wait there.”

Jungkook did as told while Taehyung went into his apartment and came back with Miri’s leash, bowl and food, handing them over to Jungkook.

T: “Take these back with you. And don’t let Miri in the room before you clean up the glass shards and anything else that’s likely to hurt her.”

J: “I know last night indicates otherwise, but I DO know how to take care of my dog, you know…”

T: “I somewhat disagree.” Taehyung deadpanned, turning to head back into his apartment.

J: “What does that mean?”

T: “Look… I haven’t slept much last night, I haven’t had my coffee yet and I got a lot of work ahead of me. I’m not up for schooling you right now. And besides, you DO know how to take care of your dog, as you claimed, so you don’t need my opinion on it. Bye.”

With that, Taehyung went inside his apartment and Jungkook was left to wonder, among other things, just how dislikable could his neighbor be. He then turned around and went back to his home to clean up the mess and make a few calls to cancel all of his appointments with clients for that day.

As he was cleaning up, Jungkook discovered Taehyung’s note, thereby learning his name and phone number. He was just about to throw the crumpled up paper into the trash when he suddenly realized he needed that number.

Jungkook felt almost nauseous at the thought of hearing Taehyung’s voice again so soon, so he sent him a text message that said “This is Jungkook. I forgot to pay you back for the vet fees. How much do I owe you?” and wondered if he should have asked Taehyung what bank account he could transfer the money to because Jungkook didn’t really want to see Taehyung again. And even less so when, to Jungkook’s question about his debt, Taehyung replied with “3 packs of cigs”, naming the brand and mentioning that he wanted them gift wrapped. Jungkook threw his phone away and didn’t touch it for the remainder of that day.

A couple of days later, while he was doing a bit of cleaning up in his apartment, Taehyung found a key that didn’t seem familiar to him and realized he had forgotten to give Jungkook his spare key back. At around 7 p.m., he listened for Miri’s excited barking which would indicate that Jungkook had arrived home from work. After hearing it, Taehyung thought about knocking on the wall or texting Jungkook to come out on the balcony, but then decided to just take the key to Jungkook, since he had to go outside anyway.

Even before ringing the doorbell, Taehyung heard Miri’s barking, the dog already sensing there was someone at the door, and he realized he had somehow grown fond of the troublesome fluffball.

When the door opened, however, Taehyung was surprised to see a young woman with her hair dyed blonde and with perfectly tanned skin.

T: “Hello. Is Jungkook home?”

W: “Yeah.”

J: “Don’t just answer my door when… Ah…”

T: “I came to bring you back your spare key.” Taehyung said to Jungkook, showing him the key.

W: “You… !” the woman yelled at Jungkook, grabbing the key and throwing it towards Jungkook who blocked it from hitting his face with his forearms. “You’re cheating on me again! AND with a man! I’m so done with you! Don’t ever talk to me again!” she continued yelling as she marched out of Jungkook’s apartment and down the stairs.

J: “Wasn’t really planning to…” Jungkook muttered in a low voice, Taehyung catching it even so.

T: “I’d say sorry for the trouble caused… but you don’t seem to care much about this person.”

J: “I did at first. But after she started getting clingy, I made it clear we weren’t and won’t ever be in a relationship. Yet she still follows me home or randomly shows up here from time to time. Hopefully she won’t anymore.”

T: “Judging by past experiences, she will, you’ll sleep with her and the loop will continue.” Taehyung deadpanned, crouching down to pet Miri who had been jumping at his legs.

J: “How do you know that?”

T: “I recognize the voice.”

J: “You know… I get that you can’t help hearing stuff, but it’s kinda creepy and disturbing if you remember things and start making patters and…” Jungkook trailed off, losing focus when he noticed how gentle Taehyung’s expression was while he played with Miri.

T: “What’s disturbing is that you make similar mistakes in dealing with people as you do with Miri.”

J: “And what would those be?”

T: “You lack any firmness and you’re indecisive. I couldn’t believe it when you said you’re a personal trainer.”

J: “Don’t look down on me, Taehyung. When it comes to my job, I do it right.”

T: “So you’re admitting you’re doing all the other stuff wrong?”

Jungkook didn’t answer and Taehyung smirked.

J: “You’re so unpleasant.”

T: “And yet you let me run my mouth like this in your doorway when we have no further business with each other.”

J: “Yes, we do actually.” Jungkook said going into his room and coming back. “Here’s your money. For the vet fees. I won’t buy you cancer, my principles won’t allow it.”

T: “Well I don’t want your money for this, my principles won’t allow it. I said I want 3 packs of cigs gift wrapped. Either give me that or nothing at all.”

J: “Fine. Then I won’t give you anything at all.”

T: “Cool. Then I’m done here. Bye, Miri. Enjoy your run.” Taehyung said in a sweet voice to the dog as he petted her head before leaving and throwing one last challenging glance in Jungkook’s direction.

Jungkook could hardly believe he could have such a rotten relationship with someone he had interacted with only three times. It felt like Taehyung was continuously criticizing or making a fool out of him. This wasn’t familiar territory for Jungkook. Aside from some people getting offended and angry at him for his unwillingness to commit to them, like the woman from before, no one ever seemed so dissatisfied with Jungkook, much less constantly throw that in his face.

The last person who was so unreasonably hostile towards Jungkook was his P.E. teacher from middle school who wouldn’t let him participate in the athletics competitions because he had skipped practice a few times. For Jungkook that was unreasonable and frustrating. He hadn’t been that big on participating in the competition, but since he was so firmly denied in participating, he set his mind on winning it. So Jungkook trained like a madman till he was the fastest person in school and the teacher had to let him participate if he didn’t want to look like a fool.

Jungkook came in third at that competition. He was in shock for a couple of weeks, then restarted training on his own so that he could win the next one. He did win the competition of the following year and, by that point, he had fallen completely in love with pushing the limits of his body and with the feeling of making it do what he wanted it to do after it initially didn’t.

Jungkook was having flashbacks of this when Miri’s barking snapped him back to reality as she announced that she had diligently brought back the Frisbee Jungkook had thrown for her in the park.

J: “Good girl, Miri! Alright… let’s try going further this time, okay? Aaaaand… fetch!”

He threw the Frisbee again and Miri ran towards it as fast as she could. The dog was the reason he couldn’t just say “ you!” to Taehyung and carry on. After all, no matter what attitude Taehyung had towards Jungkook, the guy risked his life to get to a dog that was wailing and take care of it throughout the night while some of Jungkook’s “friends” couldn’t even be bothered to take a trip to the hospital and then to his home. Jungkook was thankful to Taehyung and he noticed that Miri and his neighbor seemed to like each other, although it usually took Miri time to warm up to someone and Taehyung looked like he was incapable of liking any living being.

So Jungkook was conflicted about whether he should avoid Taehyung as much as he could or try getting on his good side and possibly end up having someone he could truly rely on when it came to matters involving Miri. And then Jungkook realized he was being indecisive again and remembered that Taehyung’s words bothered him so much because there was truth in them.

Miri ran after the Frisbee even though Jungkook threw it absentmindedly and it ended up going off course and very far away. As she got near the Frisbee, Miri noticed something in another direction and started running towards it, making Jungkook shout:

J: “Miri! Miri, come back!”

The dog didn’t listen and kept running as Jungkook started going after her while muttering to himself:

J: “This is why I can hardly ever leave you without a leash…”

When Miri reached what she had been running towards, her owner again muttered to himself:

J: “You have got to be kidding me…”

Miri had run to Taehyung, who was sitting on the grass and seemingly sketching something on paper. When he suddenly noticed the dog next to him, he petted her and started looking around till his eyes landed on Jungkook who was approaching, stopping two meters away from where Taehyung was sitting.

J: “Miri, come here. Come here.” Jungkook instructed, loudly patting his knee, but he had to repeat the command three times and each time with more determination and volume till Miri executed it.

T: “You know… Poodles are known to be very good at things concerning obedience…”

J: “Yeah, yeah, I already know what you’re gonna say – Since poodles are wired to be obedient and I have a hard time getting Miri to listen to me, I must be a very crappy dog owner.”

T: “You’re not a crappy dog owner.”

Jungkook couldn’t stop his eyes from going wide. That was very far away from a compliment, but coming from Taehyung it somehow sounded like high praise. However, Taehyung then continued with:

T: “You just REALLY at getting her to listen to you.”

J: “I suppose you could do a much better job…”

T: “Miri!” Taehyung said loudly, getting the dog’s attention. “Come here. Come!” he continued while hitting the ground next to where he was standing and ultimately getting Miri to go over there. “Good girl, Miri! Good girl!” Taehyung praised the dog as he rubbed and scratched between her ears.

J: “…How?”

T: “There are three things people can use to get others to listen to them.” Taehyung started, getting up and positioning himself in front of Jungkook with a palm extended towards him. “First is attitude. Give me your hand.”

Jungkook looked puzzled for a second, but still placed his hand over Taehyung’s. The latter squeezed it, shook it slightly and smirked before saying:

T: “Good boy, Jungkook! Good job!”

Jungkook instantly pulled his hand back, clenching it into a fist as he realized Taehyung had made him do a classic dog trick just by using a commanding tone.

J: “Taehyung, tha…”

T: “I’m sorry. That came out rudder than I intended. Forget about it please?” Taehyung said, extending his hand for a handshake while his expression looked serious and a bit submissive.

Jungkook shook Taehyung’s hand as a sign that he wasn’t going to hold a grudge over that little stunt, but then Taehyung smirked again and said:

T: “Good boy, Jungkook!”

Taehyung then felt his hand being squeezed with enough force to make it hurt while he saw on Jungkook’s face that he had lit a few fuses.

J: “Taehy…”

T: “The second is tricks. Like what I just did. And the third is position of power. Which can be very literal, like what you’re doing right now – You’re clearly stronger than me, so I have to listen to you and stop mocking you unless I wanna risk getting beaten up. Position of power can be something formal, like a teacher’s position, a higher rank in an institution, a parent-child relationship and so on or it can be something way less tangible, like having someone wrapped around your little finger because they’re emotionally dependent on you or in love with you or other such things. Do you know what you should use to make Miri listen to you?”

J: “Position of power.”

T: “Good boy, Jungkook!”

Jungkook gritted his teeth, smiled and gave Taehyung’s hand another hard squeeze, which somehow made Taehyung smile as he continued:

T: “Actually, that’s wrong. You should use all three of them. You’re her owner, so you’re automatically in a position of power. As long as your attitude sustains it, that aspect is already in your favor. You do have to tweak your attitude a bit – Know you’re in charge, take accountability for that role and act on it. This is where your biggest problem lies and why I said you lack firmness. Now tricks… I’m assuming you already know a bit about using edible treats, mimicking anger and stuff like that, but let me know if you need a crash course on it some other time.”

J: “I’ll keep your offer in mind.”

T: “Good. One more thing, but it doesn’t apply to dogs. Only humans can use it amongst themselves to get someone to listen to them.”

J: “What is it?”

T: “Requests. For example – Can you let go of my hand now, please?”

Jungkook stared into Taehyung’s eyes for a couple of seconds and decided it was probably safe to let go of Taehyung’s hand, but he added the warning:

J: “If you say “Good boy, Jungkook” now, your hand’s not gonna be the only thing in danger.”

T: “I like that you’re already accustomed to hearing that from me.”

Jungkook felt his blood pressure skyrocket in an instant, but he contained himself, took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Taehyung liked that he was getting on Jungkook’s nerves this bad and Jungkook still controlled himself.

T: “Goo…”

J: “DON’T! YOU! DARE!”

Taehyung became so amused, he even laughed lightly as he went back to his sketch. He first picked up the Frisbee, got Miri riled up about it and threw it for her to fetch before he sat back down, grabbed his pencil and started moving it on the paper again.

J: “What are you doing out here?”

T: “Just gonna put this out there – I’m not stalking you.”

J: “…Okay.”

T: “Like I mentioned a while ago – I don’t need to know anything more about you or your life.”

J: “Okay! I get it already! Geez… I was just making polite conversation.”

T: “So just filling the time with meaningless strings of words…”

J: “You know what – I don’t need this. Miri! Come on, we’re going!”

Jungkook was pissed and his tone came out fairly commanding while his attitude didn’t indicate that there was any other option besides going, so Miri followed after him straight away. As the two were leaving, Taehyung smiled to himself and muttered:

T: “Good boy.”